Minister Champagne to promote foreign direct investment on artificial intelligence in Montréal
News release
May 22, 2018 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
Canada supports free trade and innovative sectors through open markets, reduced trade barriers and by offering an environment that welcomes foreign direct investment.
On May 23, 2018, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade, will travel to Montréal, Quebec, to meet potential foreign investors and representatives of Canadian high-technology companies at the Commerce + Creativity (C2) business conference.
While in Montréal, the Minister will meet with representatives of start-up companies. Later that day, the Minister along with Ian McKay, CEO of Invest in Canada, will co-host an investment round table focused on tech and artificial intelligence (AI) with foreign business leaders attending C2 to discuss opportunities in Canada for this fast-growing sector.
On February 15, 2018, the Government of Canada announced a new investment of up to $950 million to five superclusters under the Innovation Superclusters Initiative. All five superclusters will benefit Canada’s digital industries. In particular the Digital Technology Supercluster, based in British Columbia, will use digital technologies to unlock new potential in important sectors like healthcare, forestry, and manufacturing. The Ontario-based Advance Manufacturing Supercluster and the Quebec-based SCALE.AI Supercluster are both integrating AI into their strategies. The Innovation Superclusters Initiative is a centrepiece of the Government of Canada’s Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year strategy to prepare Canada for the innovative jobs of today and tomorrow.
Quotes
“The Canadian AI sector is a global leader, and our impressive talent pool and competitive business environment continues to attract top-tier international companies and investors, including here in Montréal.”
- François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade
Quick facts
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Canada is a global leader in innovation and technology, where 40% of all Canadian R&D scientists work in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector. The ICT sector includes over 39,000 companies, employs over 594,000 people and contributes $73 billion (4.4%) to Canada’s GDP.
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Canada’s AI ecosystem consists of over 650 AI companies, largely start-ups in 2018, a 28% increase from 2017. Canada’s tech sector continues to grow and access foreign markets.
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Several Canadian AI initiatives have arisen as a result of Canada’s strategic advantage, including Vector Institute (Toronto, Ontario), Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (Montréal), Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Edmonton, Alberta). The Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management (Toronto) has established itself as a key hub linking AI start-ups with venture capital.
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